Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 151 Chinese Literature

In early August, it was the hottest time of the year. The sun was high in the sky since morning, sending warmth to the world like a scumbag.

So even on weekends, Lin Chaoyang is too lazy to go out and would rather stay at home and cool off.

His house is open from north to south. Once the windows on both sides are opened, as long as there is a slight breeze outside, convection will form in the house, making it very cool. It is very comfortable to stay in the living room in summer.

Tao Yumo disappeared early in the morning. Lin Chaoyang thought she had gone out to play with her classmates, but he didn't expect her to come back at around nine o'clock, with two people following her.

Lin Chaoyang was a little surprised to see the two of them, and asked with a smile: "Zhenyun, you didn't go back to your hometown?"

Liu Zhenyun smiled and said, "No, the school found me some extra work to earn extra money."

Liu Zhenyun's family was not well off. Although he received a subsidy every month, he never dared to spend it recklessly. He never dared to order dishes worth more than one cent in the cafeteria. He usually wore the military uniform issued when he was in the army. He tried to save as much as possible.

Most of the money saved is used to buy books, magazines and watch performances. His spending habits are not isolated cases, everyone does this.

Recently he has had a new expense, that is his "fellow villager" Guo Jianmei.

"Hello, classmate Jianmei!" Lin Chaoyang greeted Guo Jianmei with a smile.

Guo Jianmei responded shyly that she was from the Law Department, Class of 79.

He is a classmate of Tao Yumo. In addition to the one meeting on the basketball court, he has met Lin Chaoyang several times before because of Tao Yumo, but they have never spoken.

Coming to his home with Liu Zhenyun this time was tantamount to publicly acknowledging the relationship, so it was inevitable that I felt a little shy.

Last year, Guo Jianmei was admitted to Yanda University. Her family and Liu Zhenyun's family live in the next town. Because of this relationship, Liu Zhenyun took good care of her at school. As a result, the two of them became what they are today.

After listening to Guo Jianmei's story of how she met and fell in love with Liu Zhenyun, Lin Chaoyang couldn't help but tease, "You were deceived by his simple and honest appearance. This guy is very cunning, and you fell into his trap without even realizing it!"

His words made Guo Jianmei shy again, and Liu Zhenyun also felt embarrassed by what he said.

"I am still a very simple person!" Liu Zhenyun retorted.

Lin Chaoyang burst into laughter.

Guo Jianmei also stayed in school to work and study this summer. Tao Yumo originally ran over to play with her, but then found that she seemed a little redundant and wanted to go home.

Liu Zhenyun talked about the fact that he came to look for Lin Chaoyang before but failed to find him, so Tao Yumo brought the two of them over.

Liu Zhenyun had been to Lin Chaoyang's house before, but this was Guo Jianmei's first time.

She secretly looked at the decoration of Lin Chaoyang's house, with a bit of timidity and envy in her eyes.

This house is probably better than the ones professors live in at school, right?
"That day, I happened to meet Li Tuo moving, so I went to their house to warm up the pot."

Lin Chaoyang explained to Liu Zhenyun and the two started chatting.

Tao Yushu was about to go out to buy some vegetables, but before he could leave, another group of people came to his house.

It was my brother-in-law, Chen Jiangong and Li Tuo, followed by a strange old man.

After they entered the room, they exchanged a few pleasantries. Then Chen Jiangong took out a copy of Yanjing Literature and Art and said to Lin Chaoyang: "Chaoyang, my novel has been published!"

His latest short story, "Phoenix Eyes", was published in the August issue of "Yanjing Literature and Art". This novel took him a lot of effort and he had high hopes for it.

"Are you going to celebrate? Then you have to treat us!" Lin Chaoyang teased.

"It's not my turn to treat." Chen Jiangong said, looking at the person next to him with a bit of mystery.

Lin Chaoyang immediately understood what he meant. There must be a reason why they all ran over together.

He asked, “What’s the good thing about this?”

Li Tuo smiled and took out a magazine from his bag.

Lin Chaoyang took it and took a look at the cover. It was all in English, so he subconsciously thought it was a foreign magazine.

After carefully looking at the words on the cover, he suddenly said, "Chinese Literature?"

"Have you heard of it?" Li Tuo asked.

Lin Chaoyang nodded. "Yenchi University Library doesn't have much else but a lot of journals and magazines."

The English version of "Chinese Literature" that Li Tuo handed over was founded in 1951. It is the only official publication in China that has translated Chinese literature and culture to foreign countries so far, and is managed by the State Administration of Foreign Languages ​​​​Bureau.

In the early years, the magazine promoted works with obvious revolutionary nature and works of great leaders. In the past two years, the trend in the domestic literary circle has changed, and the literary works promoted by "Chinese Literature" have become more diverse, introducing new trends in the domestic literary circle such as scar literature and reform literature.

Since its founding, "Chinese Literature" has a history of nearly 30 years. It is not well-known in China, but because it is the only magazine in China that translates and promotes Chinese literary works abroad, it has always had its own unique position in the domestic literary world.

At this time, Tao Yucheng finally spoke and introduced the old man who was following behind them and had been silent since entering the door to Lin Chaoyang.

"This is Mr. Yang Xianyi from the Foreign Language Bureau, the deputy editor-in-chief of Chinese Literature. I came here this time to discuss translating Lai Zi's Summer and publishing it in Chinese Literature to introduce it to foreign readers."

Listening to his brother-in-law's introduction, Lin Chaoyang was surprised and shook the old man's hand, "Mr. Yang, I have heard of your name for a long time!"

"Hello, Comrade Chaoyang. I have heard of your great name for a long time!"

Yang Xianyi shook hands with Lin Chaoyang and laughed heartily.

He is one of the famous translators in my country, but unlike many translators who translate foreign works into Chinese, Yang Xianyi was determined throughout his life to translate Chinese literary works into English and spread Chinese culture to the world.

The most amazing thing about the old gentleman is that he and his wife spent more than ten years translating the epic novel Dream of the Red Chamber. Because it spanned the Buzzing Buzzing period, the process of translating Dream of the Red Chamber was full of twists and turns.

Finally, the English version of "Dream of the Red Chamber" was successfully published by the Foreign Languages ​​Press and received wide acclaim in the field of Sinology research abroad.

After they chatted for a while, Lin Chaoyang learned that "Lai Zi's Summer" had made a great impact in the literary world in recent times, and aroused the interest of "Chinese Literature" in this novel.

It just so happened that Zhu Guangqian and Yang Xianyi knew each other, and the two of them mentioned it unintentionally during their conversation. Yang Xianyi then learned that the author of the novel was actually the son-in-law of Yenching University professor Tao Jingfa. He asked Zhu Guangqian to help introduce him, and that's how Tao Yucheng brought Yang Xianyi here today.

"Chinese Literature" is dedicated to promoting Chinese literary works abroad, with the aim of promoting and shaping the image of China and showing Chinese history, culture and social outlook to foreign readers.

Yang Xianyi had a brief conversation with Lin Chaoyang and said, "Your latest work, Lai Zi's Summer, is very well written. It not only inherits the advantages of stream-of-consciousness literature, but also integrates Chinese culture in a groundbreaking way. It is a rare good work. Our magazine plans to serialize it."

"Chinese Literature" is a monthly magazine. Each issue recommends a number of Chinese literary works to overseas readers, but most of them are brief introductions. Only heavyweight works will be recommended in serialized form.

Just now, Li Tuo handed Lin Chaoyang the eighth issue of Chinese Literature this year. In this issue, the translation and recommendation was focused on one of Shen Congwen's famous short stories, Xiao Xiao. Chinese Literature wanted to promote his works overseas, so Lin Chaoyang naturally had no reason to refuse. He specifically asked about the manuscript fee, and Yang Xianyi said it was eight yuan per thousand words.

Normally, the royalties for publishing a work go to the author alone, but Chinese Literature magazine pays double the royalties. They not only have to pay the original author, but also the translator.

The price of eight yuan per thousand words is already very high, because it is actually equivalent to a reprint.

"Lai Zi's Summer" has 200,000 words, and the price of 8 yuan per thousand words is 1,600 yuan.

The people around were drooling as they heard this. It was too easy to make money.

It's no wonder that these guys have never seen the world. Liu Zhenyun is still an amateur now, and Li Tuo and Chen Jiangong's works are mainly short stories. They can only get a maximum of 200 yuan for publishing a work.

Seeing that Lin Chaoyang had earned 1,600 yuan in royalties in one go, how could they not be envious and jealous?
After talking about the business, Lin Chaoyang wanted to keep Yang Xianyi for dinner, but the old comrade was in a hurry to leave, saying that he had to go home to be with his wife, so Lin Chaoyang had to see him out.

When Lin Chaoyang returned home, Li Tuo, Chen Jiangong and others started to prepare dinner.

They were proud of the fact that they had brought Yang Xianyi home today and that he had made great contributions. Before Li Tuo came, he had specially brought a book called "Chinese Literature". Lin Chaoyang had received such a large sum of royalties in one go, so he had to treat everyone to a meal no matter what. His attitude was almost like that of a poor man coming to beg for money.

Lin Chaoyang didn't mind treating them to a meal. He had been working hard on his cooking skills recently, and he could just practice on them.

Tao Yushu originally planned to go buy groceries, but Chen Jiangong took the initiative to suggest going to buy groceries.

Jokes aside, they didn't come to Lin Chaoyang's house to rip him off. Chen Jiangong had just received his manuscript fee and was planning to have a good meal.

Lin Chaoyang didn't want Chen Jiangong to spend money, so he offered to go with him.

"Brother-in-law, please buy a mandarin fish." Tao Yumo told Lin Chaoyang before he left.

Ever since she ate the deep-fried mandarin fish made by Lin Chaoyang last time, she has been thinking about it all the time.

After going out to buy groceries for more than an hour, Lin Chaoyang and Chen Jiangong did not return until noon.

"Brother-in-law, why did you come back just now?" Tao Yumo said with a bitter face, starving.

The vegetables have just been bought and it will take another hour or two to cook, so we won’t be able to have dinner until the afternoon.

Lin Chaoyang waved the dish in his hand at her and said, "Good food is never too late."

Tao Yumo saw the fish and meat in the bag and suddenly became excited. "What are these?"

"Pork, mandarin fish, potatoes, radishes, rapeseed, mushrooms..."

Without waiting for Lin Chaoyang to answer, Tao Yumo rummaged through his pockets and found a pig's stomach and kidneys at the end. The main reason why Lin Chaoyang and the others came back late was because they had to queue up to buy these pig's stomach and kidneys.

"Go wash the vegetables!"

Lin Chaoyang scolded her, but Tao Yumo did not dare to refute. Who made her feel guilty about eating someone else's food?
There are many guests at home today, so of course we have to prepare more food.

Two pounds of pork was divided into two portions, one of which was made into braised pork with both fat and lean meat.

One portion was full of fat. Lin Chaoyang boiled the fat until half cooked, cut it into large slices, boiled red beans and made red bean paste, put the meat in a bowl, spread it with millet mixed with brown sugar, and steamed it until it was soft. This was how he learned to make meat with sand according to the recipe.

The mandarin fish is still dry-fried and served with pepper and salt.

He stewed the pork stomach and kidneys together with potatoes, radishes and mushrooms, making a reduced-edition stew.

It took Lin Chaoyang more than two hours to prepare four dishes, all of which were meat dishes, which was a full-fledged feast in this era.

The dishes were served, smelling delicious. It was almost three o'clock in the afternoon, and everyone was starving, so they wolfed down the food as soon as it started.

"Yum! So delicious!"

"Chaoyang's cooking skills are as good as those of a master chef!"

After eating for a while, most of the fried mandarin fish, braised pork, and stew were eaten by everyone, but no one touched the sand meat.

"Why don't you eat this dish?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

Seeing that no one made any move, Lin Chaoyang pushed the meat with sand in front of Tao Yumo and said, "Yumo, eat!"

"Brother-in-law..." Others would be too embarrassed to pick up their chopsticks first, but Tao Yumo had been full recently.

The disadvantage of being ungrateful for what one has eaten is clearly revealed at this moment. If her brother-in-law asks her to eat, can she refuse? If she refuses to eat, will she still want to eat and drink for free?
While she was hesitating, everyone watched as Liu Zhenyun took the lead in picking up a piece of fat and stuffing it into his mouth.

Everyone else at the table had enough food to eat, but Liu Zhenyun really did. When he went to the cafeteria, he was reluctant to order even a dish that cost 1.5 cents.

Everyone was hesitating just now and no one picked up their chopsticks, so he was embarrassed to be the first to pick up his chopsticks.

Now that everyone is in trouble, he is naturally willing to be the first guinea pig.

He chewed the meat with his lips full of oil. After tasting the flavor, he narrowed his eyes and stretched out his chopsticks to pick up a piece for Guo Jianmei.

"Jianmei, try it!"

Although Liu Zhenyun didn't say anything, his attitude said it all.

This sandwich with sand meat tastes pretty good.

"Add some sugar, it will taste better." Lin Chaoyang reminded Guo Jianmei.

Guo Jianmei's eyes lit up as she ate the meat.

Seeing this, the other people stretched out their chopsticks and the unpopular meat with sand was snatched up.

There is not much meat in the sandwich made from a pound of fat meat, and it seems even less when so many people eat it together.

Tao Yumo only ate two pieces, looking a little unsatisfied.

“Brother-in-law, you can make more of this dish in the future.”

"You should eat less!" Tao Yushu's eyes moved around his sister's face and said softly.

(End of this chapter)